Eldon Rathburn

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Canadian film composer

title: "Eldon Rathburn" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["canadian-film-score-composers", "canadian-male-film-score-composers", "1916-births", "2008-deaths", "people-from-queens-county,-new-brunswick", "national-film-board-of-canada-people", "20th-century-canadian-composers", "20th-century-canadian-male-composers", "musicians-from-new-brunswick", "members-of-the-order-of-canada", "the-royal-conservatory-of-music-alumni", "mcgill-university-school-of-music-alumni", "burials-at-notre-dame-cemetery-(ottawa)", "canadian-screen-award-winning-musicians"] description: "Canadian film composer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldon_Rathburn" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Canadian film composer ::

Eldon Davis Rathburn (21 April 1916 – 31 August 2008) was a Canadian film composer who scored over 250 films during his thirty-year tenure as a staff composer at the National Film Board of Canada. Known as "the dean of Canadian film composers", Rathburn composed music for documentaries, short films, as well as such feature films as Drylanders (1963), Nobody Waved Good-bye (1964), Waiting for Caroline (1969), Cold Journey (1975), and Who Has Seen the Wind (1977). Rathburn was the subject of a 1995 NFB documentary by Louis Hone titled Eldon Rathburn: They Shoot... He Scores.

Early life and education

Rathburn was born in the community of Queenstown, in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. As a child he learned to play the piano. Rathburn attended Saint John High School, and received a Licentiate of Music from McGill University in 1937. The following year, he won the Canadian Performing Rights Society Scholarship Competition, and began performing on the piano for local dance bands and radio broadcasts, including with Don Messer. From 1938–39, he studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music with Healey Willan (composition), Reginald Godden (piano), Charles Peaker (organ), and Leo Smith (harmony).

Career

Rathburn began working at the National Film Board in 1947. Among the 250 films he scored was the 1977 adaptation of W.O. Mitchell's Who Has Seen the Wind. He composed music for a number of early IMAX films.

After his retirement from the NFB in 1976, Rathburn continued to compose; his work was featured at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.

On April 14, 1999, he was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. A book on his life and work, authored by James Wright (Carleton University),James K. Wright was published by the McGill-Queens Press in 2019. James K. Wright Rathburn died in Ottawa on 31 August 2008.

References

References

  1. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/dean-of-canadian-film-composers-dies-at-92-1.731654 "'Dean of Canadian film composers' dies at 92"]. ''CBC News'', Sep 02, 2008
  2. Harris M. Lentz III. (11 August 2009). "Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2008: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture". McFarland.
  3. [http://www.sjhigh.ca/news.php?newsid=2242 "Dean of Canadian composers' got his start in Saint John"]. by Mike Mullen – September 12, 2008, ''Telegraph-Journal''
  4. (2009). "Schoenberg's Chamber Music, Schoenberg's World". Pendragon Press.
  5. (1975). "Contemporary Canadian composers". Oxford University Press.
  6. He also provided the music for the NFB's Labyrinth installation at [[Expo 67]].[https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/expo-67-50-years-later-still-an-expression-of-the-human-spirit "Expo 67: 50 years later still an expression of the human spirit"]. ''Montreal Gazette'', June 13, 2017, Arthur Kaptainis.
  7. [https://artsfile.ca/two-carleton-projects-take-the-measure-of-the-music-of-eldon-rathburn/ "Two Carleton projects take the measure of the music of Eldon Rathburn"]. ''Artsfile'', By Peter Robb, November 23, 2018
  8. Enman, Charles. (2008-09-03). "'Dean' of film composers spent 30 years at NFB". [[Ottawa Citizen]].
  9. "Eldon Rathburn: Biography". [[Canadian Music Centre]].
  10. Wright, James K, ''They Shot, He Scored: The Music, Methods and Milieu of NFB Film Composer Eldon Rathburn'' (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Press, 2019).
  11. Charles Enman. [https://www.pressreader.com/canada/ottawa-citizen/20080903/281998963255784 " 'Dean' of film composers spent 30 years at NFB"]. ''Ottawa Citizen'', Sep 3, 2008

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